Hello, we just recieved command sponsorship and have a lot of questions. We are familiar with Osan, as the husband was there in 04, and we visited for a month. We are getting conflicting info about housing and living off base. We have been told that most likely concurrent travel will be denied and we can not join my husband until he finds us off base housing, but we read a thread here earlier that said spouses can't live off base. I'm confused. About how long does it take for us to get housing (on or off base) and is the rumor true that the new housing is opening this summer? My husband is an E-6 (don't know if rank makes a difference) and will arrive around 20 August.

Also, since the freedom bird no longer goes to Osan, do we still fly govt contracted or do they fly us commercial? I will be bringing the dog and I would like to look up the airline specifics, if anyone knows which airline it will be the info would be greatly appreciated.

Our oldest daughter will be nine by the time we get there and starting fourth grade. Anyone know when schools starts?

Since we are below E-7 I know the husband can't bring a car, but we heard since we are CS we can, anyone know the rules on this?

Hi, Razmel!

Congratulations on your command sponsorship and on coming to Osan, it's a great tour, you'll love it here! :)

As far as the conflicting info about housing, the reason that may be happening is that there's currently a bit of a "unique situation" occuring with the housing situation on base.

Mustang Valley Village, the "old" housing here, is actually owned by KOHM, a Korean company, and leased to the AF. The AF has put an offer in to buy the land, which KOHM has denied (stupidly, in my opinion!) . As a result/part of the negotiations to get the KOHM to agree to the sale of the land, the AF has given official notice that it will terminate the lease of the apartments in MVV on 31 December 2007... which basically, means that if an agreement isn't reached before that date, all families currently living in MVV will have to move out of their base housing.

The new housing you're speaking of won't be finished until spring of 2008, as it's fallen behind schedule... and there's the problem.

The folks that are having to be moved out of MVV will basically have nowhere to go to , so the base is looking at having to move all those families off base, at government expense, then back on, at government expense, as housing comes open. A friend of mine who is here CS is currently looking at moving out of her house in MVV right after delivering her baby in September, then having to move *again* in April with an infant.. definitely *not* fun, even if it *is* at government expense.

They are no longer assigning anyone to the housing at MVV...which eliminates over 100 housing units at one time. I've heard that they're trying to put some new folks into the existing Seoraksan Towers as they open by attrition, but I also know they're trying to fit some of the already here CS families in there (which is only fair, since they're already here, IMO, and in the opinion of the spouses that are already here..). The bottom line, however is this.. until this housing crisis is resolved, there's just no housing on base to be had, for CS folks, and with moving all the folks downtown,it's likely to create a housing crunch in the local area as well. If all goes well, and arriving in August , you should beat the rush for downtown housing that's likely to occur later in the fall, you can usually find something fairly quickly, a week-2 weeks at most...and again, I say usually, because this is PCS season, and with things being as they are with the housing situation, I don't think there's anyway to predict how it will all go.

I had heard at a Town Meeting in March that they'd issued the non-concurrent travel order, so I'm not surprised by that, honestly, from what I heard, you're lucky to even get the CS status, as there was talk as well of putting a moratorium on CS moves at all until the housing situation is resolved.

I know at the town meeting, the Commander stressed that the negotiations were ongoing, and I know he's very intent on resolving this whole situation, and has his staff dealing with the negotiations as a priority, and hopes to have an answer for everyone by the summer, if nothing else so he can give our families here time to go look for housing elsewhere. If something changes, I'm presuming that the Non-concurrent travel order can be lifted.

I would highly recommend checking with your MPF to see about the non-concurrent travel thing (I was under the impression that would be in effect until April 08, though I could be wrong) and perhaps even give the housing office a call just to ask a question or two.

I hope this helps explain the apparent non-consistencies. Normally, a CS spouse wouldn't be allowed to live off base, but due to this situation, things are in a bit of an uproar.

This is one of the few times, it seems, everyone's in agreement that NCS's are getting the better deal here.. we don't have to worry about moving,etc. :)

As far as the school year goes, I just registered my son this past month for next year, he'll be in the 4th grade as well, and their first day is August 27. If you don't arrive by that date, due to the Non-Concurrent Travel thing, though, the school is *excellent* about fitting kids in, it's a DoD school,they're very used to it. :) If your child arrives after the 1st day, they'll normally register them one day, but not start them until 2 days or so later,to allow the teacher time to get the classroom prepared for the additional child. Be sure to try to get a packet from your child's last school to hand-carry with you, it makes the process sooo much easier, and of course, have a copy of your orders, all your identification documents, etc., and immunizations records with you when you arrive. Your child will have to have a TB test upon arrival in country as well...it's a requirement in the immunizations, so be aware of that :)

I hope this helps some.... :)

Dee :)

Welcome to the site!!

First please read this thread ALOT of your questions will be answered in this here, even though it is NCS it still will answer alot of your questions about housing and other things.

http://www.usfkforums.com/spouses-cl...-sponsored.htm

I'll answer a few here, as CS you should be authorized to bring a car. That should be in his orders.

I'm sure that you will beable to fly with your husband as long as you and your daughter are on his orders. You will fly commercial and arrive at Inchoen.

Not to sure about the Osan housing, I know here at USAG humphreys if you are CS you must move on base if there is room.

Hope this help a little, but don't forget to check out the NCS thread. I'm sure that will help more than anything.


**EDIT**

Dee beat me, for the first response....

__________________
CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

As far as travelling to Osan, yes, you fly commercial, but I don't think there's any one standard carrier, the TMOs at different bases use different ones to get you from point A to point B at the cheapest rate.

Korean Air is the primary line flown from the states to the peninsula, it will fly you into Incheon, and I think Delta is frequently used within the states.

As far as flying with your dog, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think you'll be very disheartened when you start checking with the airlines, since you're flying in August..... most absolutely will *not* carry a dog under any circumstances during the summer months (May-September) due to heat issues. It's just not safe for the dog to fly in the cargo hold when it's that hot.This is the same even on stateside-stateside flights, as well as throughout all of Europe,from what I gather... there are also some regulations that state that if it's over 80 degrees at your destination point, they won't transport. All in all,though, I'd say the chances of you getting your dog here on a civilian airline carrier are very minute... you might want to check,and see if maybe your pup could travel on a space A thing?

We're *very* glad that we'll be coming back in November...no question about being able to transport our little guy at that time!

Sorry about that

Dee :)

I was going to tell her the same thing. I couldn't bring my dog because it was July and too hot. I do believe that if your dog is small enough to fly with you in the cabin, then you won't have a problem. I was lucky and my in-laws were able to care for our dog while we are gone.

The dogs/pets can be brought over during that time period, they just cannot fly on "that" airplane with you.

I picked up my cat on the 29th of June.

Now he (the cat) had to fly on a cargo airplane, seperate and I picked him up at the cargo section 6 days prior to my family getting here. I guess that the cargo plane is air cooled because when i picked up my cat the water was VERY cold.

Also the plane ticket and everything was around $300

__________________
CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

According to the Delta website's Pet Travel FAQ, the embargo is from May 15-September 15.

"Delta has placed an embargo (a stoppage) on accepting pets as checked bags during hot weather. Extreme heat (85F or 29C) during the summer months can put animals in a life threatening situation onboard our aircraft. The embargo is in the best interest of the pet."

The Pet Travel FAQ does however , seem to leave some room for waivering, if you're on military orders *from* a foreign country to the US:

Are there any exceptions to the embargo on pets as checked baggage?

"Military or Government personnel with return orders and traveling with pets from a foreign country or Hawaii to the United States for duty may check their pets as baggage. "


It also leaves room for a bit of wiggling with a commercial animal shipper:

Why will Delta allow a commercial shipper to transport pets during the embargo?

"Commercial animal shippers have the means to keep animals comfortable in extreme heat. They can also be more flexible with flight schedules when shipping these animals."

The bottom line? Call around and ask... you never know what you might find out. :) If the airline won't cooperate, you may be able to use a commercial pet shipper.

Sending a pet cargo might be different altogether, again if you call your airlines, they might be able to work with you...but chances are that fluffy or Rover won't be able to make it over on the same plane as you do.

Dee :)

I agree with you, but if you send them on a cargo plane that is nothing but cargo then that is o.k. during that time frame. Thats how we got our cat over here. It was no special carrier, (delta) I think It was just a pure cargo plane no passangers except the crew.

The airlines would not waiver anything for carry on pets during that time, at least for us anyway. But as Dee said it never hurts to ask...

__________________
CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

I don't know why the difference but in November when we were looking into shipping our dog over as cargo, the airline still wouldn't send our dog until the temp dropped to 75. He was in Phoenix and that didn't happen until the middle of December. We ended up deciding to leave him there until we move back.